Compared to areas of pastoral herding, cultivated lands have greater carrying capacity

thereby supporting higher population densities. However, the type of crop cultivated could
also result in varying densities. For instance, the northern and north central areas of
Ethiopia with cereals as the main crops have relatively low yield per unit area; and hence
they have relatively low carrying capacity and moderate density. On the contrary the enset
and coffee regions of Ethiopia have greater yield per unit area that gave rise to the very
high density of population in some South-central Zones and weredas.

The development of commercial farms in some parts of Ethiopia like the Awash valley is
also a significant factor in causing population movements and changes in the population
concentration. Likewise, urban and industrial growths as well as transportation routes can be
considered as some of the important elements in bringing about population re-distribution
over time and explaining density variation.

7.6. Socio-cultural Aspects of Ethiopian Population: Education, Health and Languages

7.6.1. Education

Education is the bacon of opportunity which provides a platform for a decent livelihood.
Literacy is a means by which members of a society are enabled and empowered to effectively
participate in the development process. High level of education correlates with higher incomes,
better health, longer life span, and lower mortality. Hence, human capital development is a
cause and consequence of development. Education is also a human right.

The total number of primary schools in Ethiopia was 34,867 in 2016; while gross enrollment at
primary first and second cycles (grade 1-8) was 9,407,490. The Gross Enrolment Rate
(GER)that shows the total number of children that have enrolled in grades 1-8, irrespective of
their age, as a proportion of the school age population (7- 14 years) was 108.7%. This shows
that nationally there are more children in primary grades than there are children between 7 and
14 as children younger than 7 and older than 14 are enrolling into primary schools. There is
wide regional variation, with Dire Dawa and Afar having the lowest GER at 70% and 66%
respectively. Gambella and Addis Ababa have very high GERs both over 140%.

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As regards to the gender parity, in Addis Ababa more females are attending school than males.
Lower female participation is found in Somali and Harari regions. In terms of student-section
ratio, the national average is 55 for grades 1-8. Somali region has the highest ratio indicating that
children in this region learn in overcrowded classrooms compared to children in other regions.
The Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR) at the national level is 46 for grades 1-8. PTR is highest in Ethio-
Somali, followed by Oromiya and SNNP; whiled Addis Ababa has the lowest.

There were 3,156 secondary schools in 2016 in Ethiopia. The national gross enrolment ratio for
all secondary grades was 29.04%, (Addis Ababa has the highest GER at 82.27%.) implying that
there are many children who are not completing primary education and proceeding to secondary
education. Nationally GER for males is higher compared to females, though in Tigray, Amhara
and Addis Ababa more females are attending secondary education. Afar and Somali regions have
the lowest enrolment rate in secondary education.

However, the recent developments are encouraging and primary education is almost
universalized and there is at least one primary school in each rural kebele. The number of
secondary schools in both urban and rural areas in 2016 was 3156. The number of public
universities has reached 45 today from only 2 in the early 1990s; where hundreds of thousands of
students are enrolled in the tertiary level of education every year

7.6.2. Health
The Government of Ethiopia has been investing heavily in health system strengthening through
its pro-poor policies and strategies that brought about significant gains in improving the health
status of Ethiopians. Despite recognizable improvements, Ethiopia has still a heavy burden of
diseases but a low rate of self-reported illness and low health facility coverage and utilization.
The available literature indicates that the majority of ill health in Ethiopia is related to potentially
preventable, communicable diseases and nutritional disorders.

Some of the root causes of the poor health status of the population are:

1. Lack of access to clean water: rivers and lakes remain the most important sources of
water particularly for people in rural areas although such waters are largely unsafe.

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 2. Lack of adequate nutrition: studies reveal that malnutrition is rampant and is among the
highest in the world. About half of children under the age of five are malnourished,
stunted or wasted. Malnutrition still remains high as the country has not attained food
security or due to poor knowledge about nutritional requirements and dietary habits.
3. Disease related to beliefs, behaviors and traditional practices which have a negative effect
on health status include circumcision, early marriage, and low value of girls and children
4. Lack of health services: The health care infrastructure of the country had suffered from
under funding; and health service coverage is less than 50% of the population. The
services tend to be urban biased.
The combined problem of poor health and inadequate nutrition are likely to have life-long effect
on children making them physically unfit, unproductive, mentally inactive and less dynamic.
Since protein and energy malnutrition affects adult working population, the impact on
agricultural production and productivity is likely to be high.

The major killer diseases accounting for about ¾ of all deaths include prenatal-maternal
conditions, acute respiratory infection, malaria, nutritional deficiency for children under 5 years,
diarrhea, AIDS and Tuberculosis.

Despite significant improvements, Ethiopia's health situation is still at a staggering situation. The
current health workforce consists of 0.04 doctors, 0.43 nurses and 0.05 midwives per population
of 1000, also represented as: one doctor for 26,943 people, one nurse for 2,311 people, and one
midwife for 21,810 people. In order to overcome the lack of human resources for health and low
utilization of health services, the country adopted a strategy to train the health extension workers
(HEP) and midwives as well as scaling up family planning.

There are variations among the regions of Ethiopia in population per hospital and per hospital
bed. Regions like Amara, Somali and SNNP have population-hospital ratios of over 10,000 in
each case. These three regions also have high population - hospital bed ratios. The implication
is that there could be many people with no chance of seeing a doctor or having an access to a
hospital bed even if they wished to. Large numbers of people should also travel several tens of
kilometers to arrive at the location of the nearest hospital. Since Ethiopia's high population
growth rate will continue for the coming couple of years, and given the low rate at which the

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services are expanding, it could be assumed that problems in education, health and other areas of
services will continue.

7.6.3. Languages Families and Languages of Ethiopia

Ethiopia is a country where about 80 languages are spoken. According to the 2007
Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia, Afan Oromo and Amharic were the major
mother tounges in the country accounting 33.8% sand 29.3% respectively. Somaligna
(6.2%), Tigrigna (5.9%), Sidamigna (4.0%), Wolaytigna (2.2%), Guragigna (2%), Afarigna
(1.7%), Hadyiyagna (1.7%), and Gamogna (1.5%) do have significant number of speakers.
On the other hand, some of the languages are spoken by a few thousands.

The Ethiopian languages belong to two Supper Families: Afro-Asiatic and Nilo-Saharan.
Most Ethiopian languages belong to the Afro-Asiatic Supper Family.

A. Afro-Asiatic
The Afro-Asiatic Supper Family, is divided into three families, namely: Semitic, Cushitic
and Omotic.

Cushitic

The Cushitic languages are predominantly spoken in central, southern, eastern and
northeastern parts of Ethiopia mainly in Afar, Oromia and Somali Regional States. It has the
largest number of speakers and the widest spatial coverage. This family of languages
consists of many individual languages such as Oromigna, Somaligna, Sidamigna, Afarigna,
Kembatigna, Hadiyigna, Alabigna, Gedeogna, and others.

Semetic

The Semitic languages are spoken in northern, central and eastern parts of Ethiopia
particularly in the regional states of Tigray, Amhara, Harari and northern Southern Nations,
Nationalities and Peoples' Regional State. Some of the Semitic Languages include
Amarigna, Tigrigna, Guragigna, Siltigna, Aderigna, and Argobigna.

Omotic

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The Omotic languages are predominantly spoken in the south–central and south-western
parts of Ethiopia mainly between the Lakes of southern Rift Valley and the Omo River . The
languages, which make up this family, are numerous although they are not as widely spread
as the Cushitic and Omotic. Wolaitigna, Gamogna, Kullogna, Kefigna, and Kontigna are
some of the languages in this family spoken by millions and many thousands of people.
Relatively small number of people speaks most of the languages in this group.

B. NiloSaharan
The Nilo-Saharan languages are spoken in the western lowlands of Ethiopia along the border
with Sudan, in Gambella and Benishangul Gumuz Regional States. These Languages are
spoken by small numbers of people often less than 500,000 people. The individual
languages of Nilo-Saharan Supper Family include Kunamigna, Bejigna, Gumuzigna,
Maogna, Kewamigna, Nuerigna, Annukigna, and others.

7.7. Settlement Types and Patterns

7.7.1. Types of Settlement

Settlements are places that are inhabited by people more or less on a permanent basis, as
distinct for example from camps, and where people carry out a variety of activities such as
agriculture, manufacturing and commerce. Different settlement types develop mainly in
response to some physical and human factors.

Settlements are divided into two, namely, rural and urban on the bases of the dominant
economic activity, population densities and availability of socioeconomic and infrastructural
facilities. Towns or urban centers have non-agricultural activities as dominant, while rural
areas are almost totally agricultural. Population densities are generally very high in urban
area compared to densities in rural areas.

 Rural Settlement
The vast majority of the Ethiopian population still lives in rural settlements consisting of
hamlets and villages. Rural settlements can be temporary or permanent depending on
whether there is frequent change in the site of the settlements.

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 Temporary / Mobile Settlements
The lowlands in most parts of the Rift Valley and peripheral areas, being generally hot and
dry, are characterized by pastoral herding and mobile settlements. The settlements are
mobile because pastoralists have always been searching for new sites for water and pasture
for their livestock.

The major problem often mentioned about mobile settlements is that of providing social
services like clean water, schools, hospitals, electricity etc to the people. These fixed
physical infrastructures and services cannot move from place to place like the pastoralists,
and to benefit from such services people have to be in permanent settlements. However, it
must also be noted that settling pastoralists is not something that can be done in a year or
two since it involves change of livelihood strategies, attitudes and value systems. So, it has
to be considered as a serious development task that could involve the pastoralist community
and governmental and non-governmental stakeholders; and perhaps it could last for
generations.

 Permanent Settlements
Settlements are considered as permanent if there are no frequent changes in their locations.
Most Ethiopian rural highland settlements where crop cultivation is practiced are permanent.

Permanent settlements are of two types. One of them is scattered (also called diffused or
dispersed), while the other one is known as grouped/ clustered or nucleated. In areas of
dispersed settlements homesteads are separated by relatively long distances which could be
associated with individual land tenure and desire of people to live near to their farm
holdings. Grouped settlements, on the other hand, are characterized by concentration of
large number of homesteads and households at one place as for example for reasons of
defense, to provide threshold population to support basic social services as was the case of
villagization program during the Dergue.

7.7.2. Urban Settlements and Urbanization in Ethiopia

Urbanization refers to the increase in the percentage of the population living in urban
centers. It entails the process of becoming urban, moving to cities and changing from

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agriculture to other pursuits of life which are common to towns and, with a corresponding
change of behavioral patterns.

Urbanization is crucial to sustain the pace of economic development and improve the quality
of life for both urban and rural populations. Linkage between urban and rural areas could
foster efficiency of value chains in agro-industry, improve agricultural productivity, promote
service expansion and create sufficient industrial jobs in urban centers to absorb the
perpetual influx of population from rural areas. However, if the rapid urbanization is not
properly managed, it is presumed to bring with it a number of development challenges such
as unemployment, housing shortages and informal settlements, infrastructural and service
shortages, poverty and social distress.

The major criteria used to classify settlements as urban in Ethiopia are:

i. Minimum of 2,000 people;

ii. Two-thirds of the population engaged in non-agricultural activities;
iii. Chartered municipality;
iv. The presence of social services and amenities
The number of settlements meeting these criteria in 1984 was about 322. These settlements
had 10.23 percent of the total population of the country and this is one of the least urban
population sizes in the world. The number of settlements with greater than 2,000 people in
1994 had increased to 539. These have 12.8 percent of the country's population. In 2007, the
number further rose to 927. Today, the urban population is about 20 percent of the country‟s
population.

An overview of the History of Urbanization in Ethiopia

Before the foundation of Addis Ababa as a capital city, the earliest capitals and other towns
did not have a permanent population exceeding 6000. These centers were not capable of
acting as centers of influence for the life of the population of the rural hinterland in their
years of existence. The only prominent urban centers were Axum, Lalibela and Gondar. For
many years, in place of a fixed capital, there had been mobile military camps that followed
their peripatetic rulers.

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Modern urbanization in Ethiopia is associated with the establishment of Addis Ababa as a
capital by Emperor Menelik II in the late 19th century. Unlike earlier capitals, there had been
different factors that contributed to the growing and permanency of Addis Ababa as a capital
city that are indicated as follows.

 Introduction of the fast-growing Australian eucalyptus tree which satisfied the firewood
needs of the ever-growing urban population.
 Water supplies improved due to the introduction of wells and reservoirs.
 Introduction of modern schools, hospitals and health centres, hotels, cafes, bars, bakeries,
butcher‟s shops, cinema, post office, modern cathedrals, telephone and telegraph system,
bank, printing press etc.
 The construction of roads that radiate from Addis Ababa; and the arrival of the Franco-
Ethiopian railway at Addis Ababa in 1917.
 The Italian occupation had also intensified the establishment of small-scale industries and
institutions, road construction thereby contributing to the growth of the city.
Today, Addis Ababa is not only the capital of Ethiopia; it is also the diplomatic capital of Africa.
Numerous embassies and consular representatives cluster in the mountainous city where the
Organization of African Unity, now the African Union, and the UN Economic Commission for
Africa have their headquarters. Addis Ababa is geographically at the very heart of Ethiopia. It
has a congenial climatic condition. The city enjoys excellent connections with all Ethiopia‟s
economic zones. It is also connected to the rest of the world via its reputed airlines and various
international airlines.

For the past several decades, the country has experienced a very low level of urban development,
despite its high rate of urbanization. Ethiopia is a least urbanized country even by African
standards. In the words of some writers, Ethiopia is regarded as a „vast urban desert‟. The
country‟s low level of urbanization can be attributed to:

 The self-sufficiency of agriculture which reinforced rural peasant life;

 Low level of industrialization, low level structural transformation and economic
development
 The morphology of the country that hindered transportation and communication

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  The continual warfare for centuries between kingdoms in to which the country is divided;
and the frequent changes of the royal residence
 Lack of employment, and housing shortage in urban areas that discourage in migration;
 Political instability, ethnic conflict and social unrest during the late 1970s and 1980s;

Drivers of and Opportunities for more Urbanization in Ethiopia

These days, urbanization is proceeding at a much faster rate in Ethiopia. The urban
population is growing at about 5% a year, primarily driven by migration to urban areas. The
proportion of the urban population of Ethiopia in 2015 (20%) is projected to mount to 37%
by 2035.Some of the conditions which have been contributing to expansion of urban areas
are (drivers of urbanization):

 The establishment of Addis Ababa as a centre of expansion, and its permanency

thereof.
 The construction of the Ethio-Djibouti railway line along which many stations have
developed into important towns.
 The five-year Italian occupation which has contributed to road building, the
establishment of small-scale industries and service giving institutions.
 The integration of the provincial capitals and major administrative centres found in all
directions by all-weather roads radiating from Addis Ababa.
 Political decentralization and provision of administrative status of some urban
settlements
 Proximity to existing cities and main transportation corridors trigger new urban
development through agglomeration and metropolisation effects
 High Population density and growth rates in the populous highlands of Ethiopia
facilitate the emergence of towns
 Presence of new and large commercial farms, mining areas, and agro-industries such
as sugar factories; as well as mega projects like fertilizer factories, cement factories
that attract people
 Large infrastructure investments such as airports and highways, and dry ports that
attract investment and create jobs encourage urbanisation

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  Opening of Universities that support entrepreneurial activity and innovation in their
local economies
 Tourism assets and attractions such as parks, resort centres, and heritage cities and
sites contribute to urban expansion.
 Development of border towns with strengthened inter-country trade

Distribution of Urban Centers in Ethiopia

The distribution of urban centers in Ethiopia shows considerable spatial variation. This
could be explained in terms of the varying concentration of industries; and services such as
schools, health institutions, water supplies, electricity, means of transport, etc. Based on
varying concentrations of urban centers and urban populations, the Ministry of Urban
Development and Construction identified the following hierarchy of urban centers:

i.The Addis Ababa Metropolitan cluster includes Addis Ababa and its surrounding
towns; and Adama and its surrounding towns
ii.Secondary city clusters consist of:
 Lake Tana Urban Cluster: Bahir Dar, Gondar Debre Tabour, Debre Markos
 South Rift Valley Urban Cluster: Hawassa-Shashemene-Dila; and Hosana-Sodo-Arba
Minch
 Eastern Urban Cluster: Dire Dawa, Harar, Jigjiga
 Mekelle Urban Cluster: Mekelle, Adigrat, Shire, Axum
 Dessie- Kombolcha Urban Cluster.
 Jima Urban Cluster: Jima, Agaro, Mizan, Tepi, Gambella
iii.Tertiary urban clusters include:
 Nekemte Urban Cluster: Nekemte, Dembidolo, Gimbi, Metu, Assosa
 Gode - Kebri Dar oasis city network
 Semera-Mille – Asaita oasis city network
Like most developing countries, Ethiopia‟s urban population is concentrated in one primate city,
Addis Ababa. The population of Addis Ababa grew from 1.4 million in 1984 to 2.2 million in
1995, and to 2.7 million in 2007 representing about 29% of the urban population of the country.
Its current estimated population is over four million.

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Growth Rate of Urban Centers
The annual average national growth rate of urban population is about 5.0 percent. But this
being an average, rate of growth of urban population varies from town to town and from
time to time. Ethiopia‟s towns are characterized by wide range of growth rates that could be
classified into one of the following three broad categories:

i. Declining Towns: it includes towns whose populations are actually declining in

absolute numbers because net out migration is greater than natural increase. This
could be due to lack of employment opportunities and worsening living conditions.
Some of the towns that have at least once experienced a decline include, Axum,
Goba and Maichew.
ii. Slow Growing Towns: This category is composed of towns that grow at the rate
which is less than the rate of natural increase. Towns such as Holeta, Harar and Gore
have been indicated to grow slowly in the recent past.
iii. Fast Growing Towns: All towns with growth rates of greater than the natural rate of
increase make up this group. These towns pull large numbers of people from the
declining or slowly growing towns and rural areas due to the opportunities they offer
associated with expansion in industries, social services or a change in their
administrative status as zonal or regional capitals. Given the dynamism, however, it
is wise to note that a once declining town could be slowly or even fast growing after
sometime and vice versa.
Review Questions

1. What conditions make provision of infrastructure and services for temporary settlements
difficult? Do you know any strategies that the government is taking to address the
problem?
2. What were the problems of the villagization program attempted by the Dergue?
3. Justify why Ethiopia still remains to be the least urbanized country in the world.
4. Discuss on the major problems of urban centres of Ethiopia

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